Sustaining Traditions-Digital Memories

Kelly Church, Sustaining Traditions-Digital Memories, 2018, black ash, sweetgrass, rit, copper, vial EAB, flashdrive, 9 12 × 4 12 in. (24.1 × 11.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Decorative Arts and Crafts Endowment, 2020.49A-B, © 2018, Kelly Church

Artwork Details

Title
Sustaining Traditions-Digital Memories
Artist
Date
2018
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
9 12 × 4 12 in. (24.1 × 11.4 cm)
Copyright
© 2018, Kelly Church
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Decorative Arts and Crafts Endowment
Mediums
Mediums Description
black ash, sweetgrass, rit, copper, vial EAB, flashdrive
Classifications
Subjects
  • Allegory — other — memory
Object Number
2020.49A-B

Artwork Description

Kelly Church is from an unbroken line of Anishinaabe basket makers. Along with her family, she harvests and processes the materials for her work. Sustaining Traditions—Digital Memories is a basket that carries the past, present, and future teachings of this art. Woven with black ash and Michigan-sourced copper, the radiant green color alludes to the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle that has decimated black ash trees in over twenty-three US states and two Canadian provinces. When opened, the basket reveals a sealed glass vial with the carcass of the beetle. It also contains a computer flash drive with directions on how to harvest and prepare black ash for weaving, in case those traditions are lost without access to healthy trees.


This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022

Works by this artist (3 items)

Nancy Holt, Robert Smithson, Swamp, 1971, 6 minutes, color, sound, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Ford Motor Company, 2007.33.18, © 1971 The Holt/Smithson Foundation. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix, NY
Swamp
Date1971
6 minutes, color, sound
Not on view
Nancy Holt, Underscan, 1973-1974, single-channel video, black and white, sound; 09:12 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Ford Motor Company, 2007.33.17, © 1973-1974The Holt/Smithson Foundation. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix, NY
Underscan
Date1973-1974
single-channel video, black and white, sound; 09:12 minutes
Not on view
Nancy Holt, Maquette for Annual Ring, 1980, mixed media: assembled plexiglass, press tape, fiberboard, paperboard and wood, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, 1984.13.2
Maquette for Annual Ring
Date1980
mixed media: assembled plexiglass, press tape, fiberboard, paperboard and wood
Not on view

Exhibitions

Quilt featuring the portrait of a woman
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World
May 13, 2022April 2, 2023
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World showcases the dynamic landscape of American craft today.

More Artworks from the Collection

Gene Davis, Untitled, ca. 1979-1982, acrylic and pencil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Florence Coulson Davis, 1996.104.16
Untitled
Dateca. 1979-1982
acrylic and pencil on canvas
Not on view
Gene Davis, Untitled, 1982, acrylic and pencil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Florence Coulson Davis, 1996.104.12
Untitled
Date1982
acrylic and pencil on canvas
Not on view
Alma Thomas, Atmospheric Effects II, 1971, acrylic and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Vincent Melzac, 1976.140.4
Atmospheric Effects II
Date1971
acrylic and pencil on paper
Not on view
Bernard Martin, Marcel Duchamp, 1971, acrylic and pencil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anonymous donor, 1974.129
Marcel Duchamp
Date1971
acrylic and pencil on canvas
Not on view